Do the writers at "Saturday Night Live" have a crystal ball? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at prognostic “SNL” sketches that are either huge coincidences or Christopher Walken really can see the future.
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00:00 In other words, our economic system is screwed, blued, and tattooed.
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're looking at prognostic SNL sketches that are either huge
00:12 coincidences or Christopher Walken really can see the future.
00:16 Hey, how did you get these powers anyway?
00:18 I don't know.
00:21 Number 10. Obamacare website technical troubles.
00:27 This 2013 episode opened with Kate McKinnon as Kathleen Sebelius,
00:32 who was then the US Secretary of Health and Human Services.
00:36 Now, a lot of folks have been talking about our new healthcare enrollment website,
00:41 how it's been crashing and freezing and shutting down and stalling and not working and breaking
00:46 and sucking. The sketch takes shots at healthcare.gov, which experienced technical difficulties
00:52 after launching on October 1st of that year. SNL accurately captures the frustration that many
00:58 users experienced, although even the writers probably thought it was an exaggeration when
01:03 they claimed that the site can only accommodate six people at once.
01:08 Millions of Americans are visiting healthcare.gov, which is great news.
01:12 Unfortunately, the site was only designed to handle six users at a time.
01:18 Turns out that this oddly specific number was dead on. Only a few days after this sketch aired,
01:24 it was revealed that the Obamacare site received 4.7 million unique visits in the first 24 hours.
01:30 In a war room meeting, it was revealed that only, quote, "six enrollments" had occurred thus far.
01:36 There were only six health insurance enrollments on October 1st nationwide.
01:41 Number 9. Donuts for breakfast.
01:43 The same year that Caitlyn Jenner became a Wheaties spokesperson, John Belushi endorsed
01:48 the cereal that turned him into a decathlon gold medalist, Little Chocolate Donuts.
01:53 "I logged a lot of miles training for that day, and I downed a lot of donuts.
01:58 Little chocolate donuts. They taste good, and they've got the sugar I need to get me going in
02:04 the morning."
02:05 While Belushi was actually the captain of his school's football and wrestling teams,
02:09 donuts and cigarettes are no way for athletes to start the day. Yet this fake commercial from 1977
02:16 foreshadowed the rise of unhealthy cereal. By the 80s, General Mills introduced chocolate donuts
02:22 with a Z, while Ralston gave us Dunkin' Donuts cereal in glazed and chocolate flavors.
02:28 "You get delicious, crunchy little donuts by the hundred."
02:31 Breakfast hasn't gotten much more nutritious with the development of Captain Crunch's Choco Donuts
02:36 and Homer's Cinnamon Donut cereal. Anyone can make a sugary Cheerios clone,
02:41 but we still think the cereal industry owes some money to Belushi's estate.
02:45 "Little Chocolate Donuts. The Donuts of champions."
02:49 Number 8. Live-action Disney remakes nobody demanded.
02:53 By 2015, it became clear that Disney was committed to remaking all of their animated
02:58 classics, whether people asked for them or not.
03:01 "A baby."
03:04 This SNL sketch predicted not just one, but two live-action Disney remakes that had yet
03:10 to be announced. "Now it's time for them to pay.
03:13 Dearly."
03:16 The trailer parody stars Dwayne Johnson as Bambi, who is out for blood after the death
03:21 of his mother. It's essentially a Disney-esque Fast and Furious movie, with Vin Diesel as Thumper
03:27 and Michelle Rodriguez as Feline. Although Sarah Pauly likely won't take this direction,
03:33 it was announced in 2023 that she was in talks to helm a photorealistic remake of the 1942 film.
03:39 That same year, news broke that Johnson would be starring in another Disney remake,
03:44 bringing Maui of Moana into live-action.
03:47 "We are so excited and happy to announce that a live-action reimagining of Moana is in the works."
03:54 Number 7. Martha Stewart all-natural.
03:57 Martha Stewart was among Anna Gasteyer's most acclaimed impersonations during her SNL tenure.
04:03 "Sleigh ride, caroling, and wassail. These are just some of the things that remind us all of
04:10 Christmas."
04:10 Gasteyer has cited a particular Stewart sketch as the one that solidified her place on the show,
04:16 Martha Stewart's 'Topless Christmas.' Premiering in December 1996, the sketch plays out like a
04:22 typical Martha Stewart special with just one major difference. Well, two differences.
04:28 "Also, we'll learn how to make beeswax candles. They really say yuletide."
04:33 The sketch seemed to be sending up Stewart's risque spy magazine cover from that year,
04:38 but it also foretold a future wardrobe choice. We can't help but wonder if the real Stewart had
04:44 Gasteyer in mind when she went topless for a Green Mountain Coffee video in 2022.
04:49 "Just look at this. A thing of natural beauty."
04:54 Wearing nothing but a white apron, the 81-year-old Stewart made SNL fans feel as if
05:00 Christmas had come earlier. "Memphis Stewart's Home for the Holidays. Topless Christmas special.
05:05 Wednesday night at 8. For record discretion advised."
05:08 Number 6. Prideful Beer Ads
05:11 Schmitz Gay marked one of Adam Sandler and Chris Farley's funniest pairings on SNL.
05:16 "No water?"
05:17 The 1991 sketch is in the spirit of old-school beer commercials with a couple of guy friends,
05:25 some cold ones, and a pool. Instead of splashing around with beautiful women, though,
05:30 the friends find themselves drowning in beautiful men.
05:32 At the time, this played with expectations given how overtly heterosexual beer advertising was.
05:44 In recent years, numerous alcohol brands have sponsored LGBTQIA+ events and strived to make
05:51 ads more inclusive. Some ads have been more divisive than others — a 2023 Bud Light video
05:58 featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney leading to a boycott. Still, Schmitz Gay was ahead
06:04 of the curve with brewski bottles coming to embrace a prideful rainbow.
06:08 "I think I'm going to like this. Uh, yeah."
06:12 Number 5. Fallon of the Future
06:14 Jimmy Fallon joined SNL in 1998, but that year's Christmas show predicted bigger things to come.
06:20 With Alec Baldwin acting like a Scrooge, the host is visited by a couple of spirits,
06:25 including a future Fallon. "Apparently, uh, I've become a huge star in the future."
06:30 Jimmy says that he's become a prominent celebrity and even hosts the show on December 12, 2011.
06:37 "I have to admit, uh, I was really nervous when they asked me to host the show,
06:40 really. Uh, in fact, right before I came out tonight, I was so scared that I nearly took a
06:45 Baldwin in my pants." There's no way this could have come to fruition since December 12th was on
06:51 Monday that year. However, Fallon was only five days off, hosting on December 17, 2011. By that
06:58 point, Fallon was a fixture of late night with his own show. In another Christmas Carol-esque monologue,
07:04 a 2005 Lindsay Lohan is visited by her future self, who suggests that 2007 is going to be a
07:11 rocky year, which it was. "But I have a question. Why am I so short in the future?"
07:15 "Because our bones turned to dust. Because you drank nothing but Red Bull."
07:22 Number 4. Inflation only getting worse in the 21st century. On October 1978,
07:30 President Jimmy Carter delivered a televised address about inflation.
07:34 SNL parodied the speech shortly after with Dan Aykroyd as Carter,
07:39 arguing that inflation is good for America. "Inflation is our friend."
07:43 If the prices go up, we can all feel like big shots. Carter suggests that by the year 2000,
07:51 blue-collar workers will make $568,000 annually, and most citizens will be millionaires.
07:59 "Everyone will feel like a big shot." Although those figures still feel exaggerated,
08:05 $1 million doesn't carry as much weight as it did back then. Likewise, $4,000 suits, $75 cigars,
08:13 and $600,000 cars might be luxuries, but they're not unheard of in today's economy.
08:19 "I believe the watchwords for the 80s should be, 'Let's party.'"
08:24 Even if the numbers aren't precise, the sketch is just as relevant now,
08:29 with inflation surging since 2021 and seemingly no solutions in sight.
08:34 Number 3. Kevin Spacey being Kevin Spacey. When Kevin Spacey was met with a swarm of
08:41 allegations in 2017, some were shocked while others thought the worst-kept secret in Hollywood
08:47 was out of the bag. We're curious how much SNL knew, as a sketch from 20 years earlier feels
08:53 like a warning in retrospect. "This is an old favorite of mine." Spacey uses his monologue
08:59 as an opportunity to show off his singing chops. It would be fairly straightforward if it weren't
09:04 for the subtitles accompanying the sketch. "You lie awake and think about the girl."
09:14 The text claims that Spacey threatened the showrunners into letting him sing,
09:19 and that he's "a very sick individual with severe emotional problems."
09:24 The sketch proceeds to claim that "the bad Kevin" demanded a separate dressing room
09:37 and that he always plays psychos for a reason. A roast or an omen?
09:45 Number 2. The looming tower. On March 18, 2000, Colin Quinn went over several seemingly
09:53 unrelated weekend update stories that soon collided in tragic ways. First, Quinn brings
09:59 up George W. Bush, suggesting that his concern over gas prices could lead to a war if elected
10:04 president. "Texas Governor George W. Bush this week blamed President Clinton for the recent
10:09 increase in gas prices and said if he were president, he'd abolish the gas tax and if
10:14 necessary go to war with Alaska and steal their oil." This is followed by a story about the NYPD
10:21 with an image of the twin towers in the background. Quinn proceeds to talk about Osama bin Laden,
10:27 who was 18 months from enacting the September 11th attacks. "A Hong Kong-based news magazine
10:32 reported this week that suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is dying of kidney failure.
10:37 The reclusive bin Laden is reportedly hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan and is on a dialysis
10:42 machine being peddled by two of his followers." After that, Quinn mentions a death sentence in
10:49 Pakistan, which is where bin Laden would die in 2011. Finally, Quinn discusses a flight where
10:55 the pilot was attacked, forcing passengers to rise up. "Fortunately, order was restored and
11:00 the aircraft was allowed to crash on its own." The fact that these news items are covered in
11:06 succession is especially unsettling. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
11:12 and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos. You have the option to be notified for
11:17 occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings
11:22 and switch on notifications. Number 1. Donald Trump, the next Ross Perot. The 90s were a
11:29 simpler time when Ross Perot running for president was the craziest thing imaginable. In an October
11:35 1999 sketch, Perot confesses that he'll never be president. "Apparently, fellas, I wasn't insane
11:41 enough for the American people." Although he's found two other Reform Party candidates, Pat
11:46 Buchanan and Donald Trump. "Now I'm gonna ask you gentlemen a few questions." "Go ahead, shoot."
11:53 Buchanan never made it to the Oval Office, but Trump would almost 17 years later. When this
12:00 sketch aired, Trump was mounting a presidential campaign, eyeing Oprah to run alongside him.
12:05 SNL brought up his political aspirations again in November 1999, with Trump revealing that the
12:11 presidency had been on his to-do list since age 14. "All I got left is this president thing here,
12:17 and then I'm gonna build the world's tallest building on Mars." Instead of Oprah, Trump
12:24 announces game show contestant John Carpenter as his running mate, which could still happen
12:29 depending on how far he gets in 2024. "Now how do you want to start the show tonight, all right?"
12:34 Which SNL prediction gave you a mix of chuckles and chills? Let us know in the comments.
12:40 "I see you on the phone with a man from FedEx." Did you enjoy this video? Check out these other
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